Bethlehem – Ma’an/Agencies – Libya will ask the UN Security Council to demand an end to Israel’s expansion of illegal settlements on land taken from Palestinians, Tuesday news reports said.

"We are discussing it with the Palestinians and other members of the Security Council. We are going to do that, yes," Libya's UN Ambassador Mohamed Shalgham told reporters about the plans, according to Agence France-Presse.

Arab states could prepare a draft resolution by Friday, the Libyan official said. Text of a similar resolution was prepared in July 2008. At the time Libya, the only Arab country on the 15-member council, was dissuaded from introducing the measure on account of the certainty of a US veto.

According to AFP, the US deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Alejandro Wolff, indicated that Washington would again oppose any such resolution.

"He has lots of ideas," Wolff said, breaking into a big smile when asked about the Libyan ambassador's proposal, AFP reported.

On Tuesday, President Mahmoud Abbas, who was visiting Argentina, accused the US of “doing nothing” to advance the long-stalled Middle East peace process.

"For now he is doing nothing, but he has invited us to revive the peace process. I hope that in the future he can play a more important role," Abbas said in an interview with the Argentine daily Clarin.

“The Palestinians expect the US to exert pressure on Israel to get it to show respect for international law and implement the Road Map plan,” he also said.